A Regal Retaliation

Nadia’s knees buckled. Her eyes went wide, swimming in manufactured tears. The performance was textbook. Goddess, Kaelia despised her. The little omega stood in front of the assembled pack with those huge doe eyes, trembling to add maximum drama to her manipulative stage play. Every interaction with Nadia was a curated spectacle designed to drain sympathy from the crowd.

Back in her previous timeline, Kaelia had locked down her emotions. She had made it her sole priority to suppress the agonizing pain of her husband's betrayal, maintaining a dignified, frigid reserve. Nadia had masterfully weaponized that silence. She had twisted Kaelia’s quiet endurance, painting herself as the fragile, sweet victim and branding her Luna as an icy tyrant.

That pattern ended today. Kaelia refused to let the mistress get away with the routine again. Fortunately, Kaelia possessed the best teacher in the world. Nadia herself. The omega had dragged her through countless humiliating scenarios in the past, teaching Kaelia how to mask a blade behind a smile. She knew her previous strategy of avoidance had failed miserably. She was ready to launch an entirely new assault.

“I am so sorry, Luna.” Nadia sniffled. She prepared to sink down to her knees on the hard stone floor for her grand finale.

Kaelia moved. She did not hesitate or wait for the crowd to gasp. She closed the distance in three long strides, catching the stunned girl by the shoulders before her knees could strike the tiles. Kaelia pulled the omega into a warm, overwhelming public embrace. The two women froze together in the center of the grand hall. The dining room plunged into a deathly silence. A metal fork clattered aggressively against a porcelain plate, slicing through the quiet. Out of the corner of her eye, Kaelia saw Tessa staring with a dropped jaw.

Kaelia finally stepped back, putting proper distance between them. She summoned a sorrowful, expertly rehearsed smile to her lips. “Nadia. I can call you that, right? I want you to know this pack is a sanctuary for you. No one will ever hurt you again. We are nothing like the monsters you escaped. You will always be treated with kindness here because you belong with us as a member now. Those hard days of cruelty are over for you.”

Kaelia swept her gaze over the grand room. Stunned expressions painted the faces of her pack mates. They had expected fury or frigid dismissal. In her past life, Kaelia had ignored the mistress, gritting her teeth to remain polite when they were forced into the same room. The pack had perceived that tension. They had watched Nadia weep, and over time, the crowd had rushed to offer the poor omega their loyalty. She had wormed her way into their hearts because she was the Alpha's true mate who had endured a tragic life.

Conversely, the pack had perceived Kaelia as a woman born with a silver spoon lodged in her mouth. They believed her Luna status came effortlessly. No one understood the relentless work and personal sacrifice she bled out onto the dirt to achieve such perfection.

Nadia threw herself forcefully into Kaelia’s arms a second time.

“Thank you!” Nadia whined into Kaelia’s emerald-green gown.

The screeching voice made Kaelia want to strangle the girl on the spot. If her wolf, Umbra, was hovering near the surface, the confrontation could have ended in a quick spray of red. But Umbra remained distant in her mind, leaving Kaelia to fight a brutal war of acting skills against a seasoned manipulator.

Nadia pulled back slightly, droning on with her tragic monologue. “I was sure the nightmare I lived before would repeat itself here as well! But you are so kind! I am ready to do any job! However hard the labor is, I will be your domestic maid if I have to.”

Kaelia shifted her focus toward the head of the heavy wooden table. Torin sat gripping his cutlery, his jaw clenched tight enough to crack his own teeth. He watched the exchange with utter fury and bewilderment. Kaelia fought to keep a laugh locked in her throat. Torin had spent the entire night scouring the territory for an intruder, operating on pure adrenaline. Now he was forced to watch his fated mate offer to scrub floors in front of his warriors. His wife’s sudden benevolence possessed him with sheer panic.

Get used to the shock, my love.

Kaelia gasped, forcing a faint, singular tear to pool over her lashes and roll slowly down her cheek. Hugging her worst enemy sent a nauseating chill through her veins. Gathering a real tear from that misery required very little effort. “Don’t be ridiculous, Nadia! You have suffered immense pain. My heart goes out to you. I will offer you honorable pack employment suited to your skills. If you lack the qualifications for a decent position right now, we will finance your university education at the local college. Everything will be fine. Do not worry about a thing. You will not face mistreatment here. Our pack is fair. Torin and I built it for years. Everyone gets exactly what they deserve. And so will you.”

The omega frowned for a fraction of a second. The slip of her mask was nearly imperceptible. Did Nadia understand the razor edge hidden inside that promise?

Nadia quickly regained her innocent composure. She fluttered her long eyelashes and plastered on a bright, angelic smile. “I am the luckiest girl alive. No wonder my mate... I mean, the Alpha... is so in love with you, Luna. Now I see the rumors out there about you are true.”

“Oh, you will have to tell me all about those later!” Kaelia giggled with a sugary tone. She guided Nadia gently backward and pressed her down onto an empty wooden chair.

Fortunately, the little omega had not risked claiming the Luna’s seat. She had not even taken the chair right next to Torin. Nadia would try to steal those thrones eventually. Kaelia knew the escalation by heart. At least she did not have to wage that specific battle this morning.

“I will be happy to!” Nadia shook her wild red curls.

The oversized t-shirt the omega wore shifted, slipping 'accidentally' down her smooth shoulder. Torin stared at the exposed skin. His eyes darkened with instant, predatory lust. The damn mate bond was already digging its venomous claws into his mind. Their shared timeline was sprinting away from Kaelia.

Kaelia pivoted toward the table and picked up her morning coffee. She took a long, calculated sip. The dark roast tasted far more bitter than usual. She set the mug down and locked eyes with the pack’s Beta. “Corbin, we need to assign a budget for Nadia.”

The remaining whispers in the dining hall vanished. The room went quiet all over again.

Corbin cleared his throat, shifting his weight uneasily. “Are you sure, Luna? She is just an omega and—”

“She is not just an omega, Corbin.” Kaelia interrupted the man swiftly. She raised her chin high, her perfect smile gleaming like a drawn sword. “She is our Alpha’s true mate. He did not reject her. She is a part of our pack now. She needs to look the part. It is time to throw the worn-out t-shirts and jeans into the garbage.”

Tessa scoffed from her seat down the table, unable to maintain her silence a second longer. “That is very kind of you, Luna. Some might even say too kind. I mean, considering the situation.”

Kaelia shot a sharp, warning glare at her best friend. “I do what I can.”

As always, Tessa read the visual cue and pressed her lips into a tight line.

Kaelia turned back to the room, letting her voice ring off the grand walls. “Let us make this clear once and for all. I am very serious about Nadia being treated appropriately here. I refuse to let anyone bully her just because the three of us are caught in a peculiar situation. I wish her no harm. I will have zero tolerance for anyone who tries to bring any kind of harm to her.”

Kaelia picked up a fork and began eating her omelette as if the emotional upheaval had never happened. She stealthily tracked the glances of her pack mates. The deep sympathy they had reserved for Nadia in her past life evaporated. They were projecting those same meaningful looks toward Kaelia. This time, the gazes carried heavy respect rather than simple pity.

In her past timeline, Kaelia had provided Nadia with the same funds and resources. She had just failed to announce it publicly. Her silent generosity allowed Nadia to play the crowd and accuse Kaelia of hidden cruelty at every turn.

Kaelia looked down the long table and met Torin’s intense gaze. She flashed him a small, polite smile. Torin flinched backward, startling in his chair. She was drawing the exact reactions she required. For her first day back from the dead, she considered the breakfast a glorious triumph.

The moment the meal concluded, Tessa grabbed Kaelia by the arm. The female Beta marched her down the corridor, shoved her into the administrative Luna office, and slammed the door. She engaged the heavy lock with a sharp click. The insulated walls eliminated the hum of the packhouse, granting them absolute privacy from prying werewolf ears.

Tessa hissed at her friend, pacing across the floor. “What the hell are you doing? You are welcoming his mate? You should have insisted again and again on him rejecting her!”

Kaelia let out a long sigh. The heavy weight resting on her chest shifted. “Oh, T.”

Kaelia closed the gap and threw her arms around the girl. Tessa smelled sharply of roasted almonds. The familiar scent washed over Kaelia, soothing a fraction of the raw, broken pieces in her heart.

Tessa sniffed, hugging her back with equal desperation. “Stupid perfect Luna! You can’t be this kind! You have loved him all your life! He marked you, for Goddess’s sake! What was he thinking?”

Kaelia stepped away and released another heavy sigh. “That ship has sailed. No one can fight the mate bond. That battle was lost the moment he met her and didn’t reject her.”

Tessa shook her head in bewilderment. Deep lines of worry etched into her face. “You are so calm about it! I can’t believe this!”

Kaelia leaned against the polished edge of her desk. She stared at the woman pacing the rug. If she could entrust this horrific secret to a single soul in the universe, it would be the friend who had grown up beside her.

“I need to tell you something.” Kaelia reached out, took Tessa’s hands, and guided her gently toward the leather armchair. Kaelia perched on the edge of the mahogany desk, looking down at her. “But I will need you to be open-minded about what I am about to say.”

The words poured out of Kaelia in a focused stream. She detailed the betrayal, the framing, the exile, and the execution. She explained how her throat was ripped out in the snow, and how she awoke back in her own bed the morning after Nadia’s arrival. The more Kaelia spoke, the more the color drained from Tessa’s face. Kaelia deliberately omitted the devastating detail of Tessa’s own grisly death. There was no benefit in dragging her friend through that specific nightmare. The fragments Kaelia provided were agonizing enough to process.

Kaelia fell silent. Tessa stared at her, her eyes rimmed with red.

“It’s unbelievable, I know,” Kaelia muttered, bracing for the inevitable denial.

Tessa surged forward, grabbed Kaelia’s hands, and squeezed them with iron force. “Horrible! Kael! That is awful! What you had to go through—”

Kaelia raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Wait, you mean you have no doubts about what I just said?”

Tessa leaned back in her chair and exhaled a shaky breath. “You wouldn’t joke about all that at a moment like this. As far as I know, just yesterday, you were madly in love with Torin. But now... you are so calm it’s frightening. Though, this explains a lot. You don’t get over love like that in one day.”

The observation hit the absolute truth. Kaelia was unsure if every twisted fiber of her love for Torin was truly dead and buried, but she was definitely a completely different creature than the girl from a year ago. She was twenty-five on paper, but her soul felt ancient. Betrayal and suffering aged the mind fast.

Kaelia decided to solidify their foundation. “It doesn’t bother you how crazy that sounds?”

Tessa shrugged her shoulders. “I believe in the Moon Goddess. She may have wanted Torin to be with someone like that, like Nadia. But I will never believe that she would want such a death for you! Anyone but you!”

“I missed you so much.” Kaelia surrendered to the emotion and gave Tessa another fierce hug.

Kaelia pulled her friend close, holding her tight. She fell quiet, vowing silently that she would burn the entire lunar hierarchy down before she let Tessa bleed for her again. She was not going to lose her best friend a second time.

Tessa broke the embrace and slapped her hands onto her knees, instinctively progressing to battle mode. She was one of the chronically underappreciated wolves of the pack. The world labeled her a simple Luna’s assistant. Both of them loathed the title. Tessa possessed pure Beta blood coursing through her veins. She could drop an Alpha to his knees in a fight if she applied herself. Some male wolves thought too highly of themselves and paid the price for underestimating pretty girls.

Kaelia formed a sharp, predatory smile. She knew she possessed a lethal ally on her side now. “The plan is to divorce and take our pack back. The Ivory Moon.”

Tessa whistled a long, low note. “Is this even possible? I mean, if you quickly get pregnant with Torin’s baby and then we kill him, we could get this all—”

Kaelia burst out with ringing laughter. “No, thank you. Goddess, you are so bloodthirsty!”

“My hands are just itching to cut off his di—”

“I got you!” Kaelia covered her face with her hands, struggling to suppress another wild outburst of giggles.

Tessa snapped her fingers, her eyes lighting up with sudden inspiration. “You know what, I have an idea! How about we ask the Lycans for help? This may actually—”

“Been there, done that. Their king is an asshole.” Kaelia retorted swiftly and rolled her eyes at the painful memory.

Tessa’s jaw unhinged and dropped toward the floor. “You what?”

“I had one Lycan who owed me a debt, and I asked him to arrange a conversation with his king. You have no idea how arrogant he was!” Kaelia explained.

“Worse than Torin?” Tessa chortled.

“Worse than Torin,” Kaelia confirmed grimly.

The Beta female drummed her fingers against the leather armrest. She wasn't prone to surrendering to a dead end. “Okay then, what’s next?”

Kaelia exhaled a long breath before laying out the map to their victory. “Simple, really. I need to get the support of as many Alphas as I can. So that when the divorce comes into force, they will give me their votes when I raise the matter in the Alpha Council. And I will.”

Tessa pulled her smartphone from her pocket, her thumbs hovering over the glass screen. “How many do you think will support you? You can count on the Alphas and packs where my cousins are Betas. I’ll take care of them.”

Kaelia tapped her manicured nails against the cold wood of her desk. Focused ambition replaced the lingering grief in the room. She waited patiently for Tessa to tear her eyes off the phone and spare her a direct glance.

“Not sure yet, but I know where to strike first.”

Tessa looked up, genuine interest burning in her gaze. “Do tell!”

An opportunistic smirk spread across Kaelia’s face as she visualized the battlefield. “The most important event of the year is just around the corner. The annual Alpha Ball.”